


Love Sick

by Enide_Dear



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27643312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enide_Dear/pseuds/Enide_Dear
Summary: The whole Fellowship sans one comes down with the flue and the only one who doesn't get sick knows nothing of mortals illnessess. Good thing he's got a relable dwarf to help out between sneezing.
Relationships: Gimli (Son of Glóin)/Legolas Greenleaf
Comments: 6
Kudos: 75
Collections: The Two Thousand Fics on AO3 Gigolas Challenge





	Love Sick

It started about two days south of Lothlorien, in the cold fog that rose from the Anduin every morning. They'd eaten a cheerless meal and were preparing for another day of being cold and wet in cramped boats when the strange sound echoed over water. 

"Bless you, mr Frodo." Came Sam's automatic answer, which was apparently the mortal way of responding to such sounds. Legolas didn't know why since he doubted the Valar had anything to do with itching hobbit noses, but he had to admit it sounded polite. 

Frodo sneezed again, and this time Aragorn looked up, a small frown of concern between his eyes. 

"What is it?" he asked surprised. Since travelling with these mortals he'd heard them all make that sound at some point. Lots of things could cause it; sunlight on their faces, cold weather, being tickled by a straw of grass....it was all rather ridiculous. 

Pretty cute too, though. 

"Frodo, come here." Aragorn put his hand on the hobbit's forehead and his frown grew deeper. Even Legolas could see that something wasn't right with Frodo; his eyes were shiny and his cheeks too red. It made him twinge uneasy somewhere deep inside. "You have a fever."

"We can't go on anywhere today!" Sam quickly put down the blankets he'd been carrying towards the boats. "If he is sick, he needs rest!"

"Pippin is looking a bit strange to," Legolas commented when he saw the youngest hobbit, whose nose were shiny red and who was trying to cover a cough in his arm. 

Aragorn's eyes got wide with worry. Then he too sneezed. 

They quickly lit a fire and bundled up the three in blankets, Aragorn grumbling about his lack of athelas, and set about building a semi-permanent camp. Boromir collected wood until he sneezed so hard he could barely see while Merry almost collapsed, as hot as a fire on his forehead and Sam was forcibly removed from any foodstuff by Gimli once the hobbit started shivering in the rising sun. 

In the end it was just elf and dwarf left to cut down boughs and make a make-shift wind protection and Legolas felt panic rise in him as his last companion's voice got raspier and raspier. 

"I thought dwarves were hardier than this!" he hissed, fear making him lash out as he wrapped the shivering dwarf in his last blanket and placed him by the fire. "How dare you leave me with all of this? What am I supposed to do?!"

"Oh calm down elf! We have all gotten a bad cold, that's all. It wont kill us." Gimli snorted back. 

"Are you certain?" Legolas felt very doubtful. "The hobbits look very bad."

"Ay, you will probably have to take care of them for a bit." Gimli shrugged.

Legolas stared blankly. Gimli bristled. 

"Oh for Aüles sake, you know how to care for a cold don't you?!"

"I know what to do if someone has hypotermia, yes! But I don't know why you are all oozing!"

"Not that kind of cold, you daft elf. Cold as in the sickness." He stared up at eyes shining with a thousand years of cluelessness and sighed. The sigh irritated his throat and made him cough. "We have a sickness, elf."

Legolas paled so much he almost went white. 

"I knew it. You are dying! What am I to do?! I can't take the Ring!"

"Oh stop being so melodramatic, we are not dying!"

"Mortals die of sickness all the time!"

"Not this sickness! Calm down and take a deep breath. I'll tell you what to do. First finish the wind protection. Bundle down everyone in there and put all blankets around them. Use our knapsacks to elevate their heads, it will make it easier for them to breathe."

"And that will stop them from dying?!"

Gimli just sighed and waved the close to hysterical elf away. 

No sooner had Legolas finished his tasks before he came running back to the camp fire with the shivering dwarf, looking like he felt sick to his stomach. 

"They are oozing! There is some kind of....green ooze coming from their noses! It does not smell like sap!" He looked like this was the ultimate proof of them being close to perish. "Would it be better if I ran back to Lothlorien for help?! I can make it there and back again with aid in less than two days!"

"It's just snot, elf!" Gimli almost laughed but stopped himself as his throat protested. "Don't tell me you haven't seen worse on a battle field!"

Legolas glared at him, annoyment making him look almost himself. 

"I have seen blood and other fluids aplenty in fights! None of them green! Not even orchs are green on the inside!"

"You've seen a festering wound? As after a poisoned weapon? it's the same thing. Pus coming from their noses."

Legolas gave him a look that said this was the single most disgusting thing he'd ever heard of in his life. 

"You need to wipe it off." Gimli said with something close to glee at the elf's discomfort. "There will be a lot of it. And them make some tea and soup - easy to swallow."

Legolas sighed and closed his eyes. 

"Anything else?" He asked in the dead-pan voice of someone who knew there was more to come.

"Ay, you'll need to check if they have a fever. Do it by putting your hand on their foreheads. If they feel warm, or unusually cold, they have a fever."

"And how am I to know what is the normal warmth of a mortals forehead?!"

Gimli snorted. 

"You've carried the hobbits over enough streams to know. And you forcefully washed Aragorn's hair in Lothlorien."

"I couldn't let him shame himself in front of the Lady!"

"You almost drowned him. Well, off you go. You have a full day's work ahead of you. "

Legolas stomped off, muttering about how Elrond must be mad to voluntary choose to be a healer. 

The day went on as Legolas poured tea and soup down the throats of Men and Hobbits, wiped their noses, held them up to cough, made sure they were bundled up while sleeping of dozing and probably learning more about mortal anatomy than he'd ever wanted to. Gimli, who felt good enough to at least be upright, sat by the fire and drank his own tea and came with advice as well as he could. 

When the sun went down all the patients except Gimli fell asleep one by one, feeling a bit better and breathing a bit easier and Legolas could finally slump down by the fire and get some food for himself. Gimli patted his weary shoulder.

"Being a healer is tough work, laddie. But you did well. Better rest while you can."

"This is NOT how I expected to fight for my friends lives." Legolas muttered into his soup but then sighed. "Still, it wasn't that bad. But I think you for your advice. I wouldn't have known what to do otherwise."

"Ay, that much was obvious. And you did better than I expected." He had. Gimli had expected an elf to either not care at all about mortals' plight - although he knew by now of course that this elf cared deeply - or to just think it beneath him to do anything about it. But Legolas had waded into the challenge for all his lack of knowledge and experience and come out victorious, better learned and somewhat sticky on the other side. It made Gimli feel proud. At least that's what he told himself the warm feeling inside was. "Well, time for me to get some rest to. I'll be back to myself tomorrow and the others will be feeling better as well, I think. Can you take the whole nights watch by yourself?"

Legolas nodded but as Gimli rose up, he grabbed his hand. 

"Thank you," he said earnestly as if Gimli had assisted him in a life-or-death battle, "I could not have done it without you."

Gimli stammered something, covered it up with a cough that was just half-fake, and hurried over to the bundles of sweaty, snoring, sneezing mortals. his hand felt warm where Legolas had grabbed it. 

The next morning everyone felt good enough to get up and tend to themselves, much to Legolas great relief, although he still insisted on preparing food for them once Gimli had explained the theory of disease spreading by tiny invisible creatures. They stayed to recover their strength one more day and the next they felt good enough to continue their journey. 

"Thank you for taking care of Mr Frodo," Sam said earnestly as they were loading the boats. "I am so sorry I couldn't help him myself but...."

"You were sick to Sam. Besides, it is Gimli you should thank. I merely did what he told me." Legolas laughed, his voice a bit strained as he was putting away luggage. "I am sure my father wil be thrilled when I return to tell him I now have a dwarf's skill in caring for colds. I am sure he will find it most useful."

"We are at least grateful for it," Aragorn said. "Now we know we will always have someone to care for us if we get ill."

Gimli nodded as Legolas helped in into the boat; the elf's hand was still so very warm and his eyes shone strangely. 

"Legolas, are you feeling alright?" he asked in trepidation. 

Legolas stared at him and smiled, a bit woozily.

And then he sneezed.

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I am sure Legolas can staunch a bleeding wound or make a make-shift sling for a broken arm, but elven ABC for emergency aid is more ELF - Elevate their spirits, Listen to their woes and Feelings can kill you if you are not careful.


End file.
